Tribune Editorial: Give NRA ideas the attention they deserve

Saturday

Dec 22, 2012 at 9:04 AMDec 22, 2012 at 9:10 AM

Anyone hoping that the National Rifle Association, oddly silent since the Newtown tragedy, would express a willingness to engage in a meaningful discussion of guns and gun violence at its much-anticipated press conference Friday would have been sorely disappointed.

Anyone hoping that the National Rifle Association, oddly silent since the Newtown tragedy, would express a willingness to engage in a meaningful discussion of guns and gun violence at its much-anticipated press conference Friday would have been sorely disappointed.

No, the powerful gun lobby that “grades” politicians on their gun-friendliness blamed the news media, video games and movies for creating a culture of violence and offered some suggestions to curb it: putting an armed guard in every school in the land right now, before classes resume in January; and creating a national registry of the mentally ill.

Let’s take these ideas one at a time.

From a purely practical standpoint, just asking for volunteers to grab their guns and go guard the local school, as the NRA suggested, probably isn’t a great idea. Maybe a background check or a little training? Maybe both?

In reality, recruiting, screening, certifying and equipping nearly 135,000 people would take time and cost billions of dollars — $8 billion, according to an estimate by NPR. The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics counted 98,706 public schools in 2009 and 33,740 private schools in 2008. Perhaps the NRA would like to foot the bill for that, along with the liability insurance premiums.

But putting aside the absurdity of the logistics and cost of such a scheme, what message would an armed guard in every school give our children? That they are safe nowhere? That the answer to fear is greater firepower? That our options in this life are to kill or be killed?

This doesn’t sound like the kind of world anyone would choose for their children.

And then there’s the idea of creating a national registry for the mentally ill. Presumably this could be used to keep guns out of their hands, but that would require background checks for all gun sales and transfers, including those at gun shows and between private parties, something that the NRA opposes. So what then? Just to keep an eye on them? Who would qualify as mentally ill? Who would decide whether a person must register?

The mentally ill are not criminals. They have illnesses that require proper treatment, just like heart disease or diabetes. Like any ill person, they have a right to doctor-patient confidentiality. The only thing creating a national registry would accomplish would be to keep people from seeking needed treatment.

It is true that much of our entertainment features bloodshed and violence as the solution to problems. But attacking the First Amendment while holding the Second Amendment sacred is the height of hypocrisy.

The NRA ideas revealed Friday are, in fact, crackpot ideas that should be dismissed out of hand. If the NRA wants a seat at the table as the nation wrestles with the very real challenges of gun availability, mental illness and a culture that revels in violence, it is going to have to acknowledge its own role in the problems, and get serious.

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